{"id":13988,"date":"2025-07-16T11:14:05","date_gmt":"2025-07-16T11:14:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/13988\/"},"modified":"2025-07-16T11:14:05","modified_gmt":"2025-07-16T11:14:05","slug":"hundreds-of-frogs-once-thought-to-be-extinct-released-in-santa-monica-mountains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/13988\/","title":{"rendered":"Hundreds of frogs once thought to be extinct released in Santa Monica Mountains"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nearly 600 California red-legged frog tadpoles that were raised at the Aquarium of the Pacific<\/a> in Long Beach<\/a> were released into streams in the Santa Monica Mountains, marking a hopeful step in restoring a threatened species once believed extinct in the area.<\/p>\n

The tadpoles were rescued in March after late-winter storms damaged the frogs\u2019 fragile breeding sites, aquarium officials said. <\/p>\n

\"Biologists<\/a>Biologists release hundreds of endangered frog tadpoles in the Santa Monica Mountain range streams in July 2025. (National Park Service)<\/p>\n

Biologists from the National Park Service<\/a> salvaged the egg masses and brought them to the aquarium, where staff hatched and raised them over several months.<\/p>\n

The emergency intervention is the latest in a decade-long effort to reestablish the federally threatened species in its former range. The California red-legged frog is also designated as a Species of Special Concern by the state.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis project has had its share of ups and downs over the years,\u201d said Katy Delaney, an ecologist with Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. \u201cBut with committed partners like the aquarium, we\u2019re writing another hopeful chapter in the comeback story of the California red-legged frog.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Close-up imagery of endangered red-legged frog tadpoles provided by the Aquarium of the Pacific. \"Close-upClose-up imagery of endangered red-legged frog tadpoles provided by the Aquarium of the Pacific. <\/p>\n

Since reintroduction efforts began in 2014, biologists have worked to create self-sustaining populations in the mountains, where the species had not been seen since the 1970s. This year\u2019s release is one of the largest yet and offers a boost after wildfires and severe weather disrupted earlier breeding efforts.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are so proud to be able to support the National Park Service<\/a> in their work to help local populations of California red-legged frogs,\u201d said Erin Lundy, conservation manager at the aquarium. \u201cIt\u2019s incredibly meaningful to be able to play a role in the important work that they do.\u201d<\/p>\n

NPS biologists plan to monitor the release sites over the summer to track the tadpoles\u2019 development into juvenile frogs and evaluate the success of the emergency response.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, the Los Angeles Zoo<\/a>, in partnership with the Aquarium of the Pacific, released hundreds of endangered yellow-legged frogs<\/a> in the San Gabriel Mountain range.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tSuggest a Correction<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tClose Modal<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tSuggest a Correction<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nearly 600 California red-legged frog tadpoles that were raised at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13989,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[13486,192,13487,13488,3031,13489,13490,79],"class_list":["post-13988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-aquarium-of-the-pacific","tag-environment","tag-featured-on-instagram","tag-long-beach","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-county","tag-national-park-service","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13988"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13988\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}